Road teams won four of the seven games on Tuesday, continuing a possible early trend across the NBA. So far, home teams have won 85 of 156 games (54.5 percent) on the season. Over the last decade, the success rate for home teams has perennially been about 60 percent, give or take a few points of flucuation each season. There no reason to think that this season will depart from the norm because, really, it's tough to think of a reason why there would be a shift. Almost certainly this effect is due to better teams having played a disportionate number of games on the road so far, but we'll keep an eye on this possible trend anyway. For example, while road teams did well on Tuesday, the night as a whole can't be considered an evening of surprises. NBAPET correctly projected all seven winners (and has gotten 13 of 14 the last two nights). Playing at home matters in the NBA, but it doesn't matter as much as being good.

CAVALIERS 101, 76ERS 93 (box): The Sixers went to pieces on offense in the second half and dropped their fourth straight. The four losses complete a five-game road trip that started with a promising win in New York. On Tuesday, the Sixers were 12-of-33 from the field and committed 10 turnovers in the second half, leading to 13 Cleveland points. Only three of the turnovers came off of Cavalier steals, which doesn't necessarily mean Philly committed seven unforced turnovers, but it does suggest the Sixers were their own worst enemies. Cleveland had just three offensive boards in the game, but had 28 assists on 37 made field goals and turned the ball over just seven times.

HAWKS 102, PACERS 92 (box): Josh Smith continued a recent tear with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots for the Hawks. Smith appears to be building upon the refinements to his game from last season. His assist rate has climbed even higher, his blocked shot rate has gone through the roof and he's rebounding more. Smith is drawing fewer fouls and has re-introduced the three-point shot to his game. However, he's hit 47 percent from the arc, which has helped put his True Shooting Percentage at a career-best .570. T.J. Ford got the start at point guard for Indiana because Darren Collison sat out with an ankle injury. Ford didn't commit a turnover in the game, but the Pacers finished -5 in turnovers and -13 in points off of miscues.

WIZARDS 109, RAPTORS 94 (box): The Wizards put up their most efficient offensive performance of the season with John Wall sitting on the bench in a walking boot, but the result probably has as much to do with the quality of the opposing defense as anything. It's entirely possible that in the short term the Wizards are better off on the offensive end with Gilbert Arenas on the floor in place of Wall, especially when he's playing as well as he did on Tuesday. As well as Wall has played, Washington has been outscored by 7.5 points per game with him on the floor. That part of the learning curve in the NBA for even the most promising rookies, even those who boast of excellent individual stats. Don't worry, tough. Wall will be back in the lineup as soon as possible. That return may come tonight in Boston as Wall's sprained foot isn't believed to be serious.

TRAIL BLAZERS 100, GRIZZLIES 99 (box): Wesley Matthews stepped in for Brandon Roy at the shooting guard spot and responded with a Roy-like 30 points on 19 shots in 43 minutes for Portland. When you consider the chronic nature of Roy's knee problems, you can understand why Portland was so sweet on Matthews in the offseason. Roy will have an MRI on his bad knee on Wednesday. Actually, with Roy you have to specify which bad knee--it's his left one. Tuesday's game in Memphis wasn't quite as dramatic as the score indicates, as Mike Conley hit a three at the buzzer to account for the one-point margin. Memphis has lost four straight, three of them at home, though all the losses have come against high-quality opponents. Nevertheless, the Grizzlies have gone into players-only meeting mode.

LAKERS 118, BUCKS 107 (box): The Bucks started the game first in the league in Defensive Rating. They finished the night in fourth after going up against the implacable offensive machine from Los Angeles. The Lakers haven't been held below a point per possession all season; they've been at 1.1 or more in nine of 11 games. The Lakers' current Offensive Rating of 118.3 would be the highest of the post-merger era if they can can keep it up. The current high is Phoenix's 117.4 mark set last season.

BULLS 95, ROCKETS 92 (box): The Bulls shot 15-of-28 from the line, which made the end of their win in Houston more nerve-racking than it had to be. Derrick Rose put up his best GR of the season, dominating his head-to-head matchup with Houston's Kyle Lowry. Lowry's night could have been better--and so could the Rockets'--had a pair of buzzer-beating shots accounting for five points not been wiped away by instant replay. Kyle Korver wasn't supposed to play and, in fact, was doubtful to even make this leg of the trip as he was due for an MRI on his knee. The MRI turned up relatively clean, and Korver went out and put up one of his better games of the season, with totals of 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Korver plays exremely good defense with his hands, which sort of flies in the face of convention, but he pulls it off. This was just game one of seven on the road for the Bulls, who began their annual Circus Trip as the Ringlings, Barnums and Baileys set up shop at the United Center. Next up is tonight's trip to San Antonio, for what promises to be an excellent early-season matchup against the Spurs. The Bulls have won four straight and really seem to be gaining confidence, especially on the defensive end where Chicago has put up a 98.9 Defensive Rating during its current streak.

NUGGETS 120, KNICKS 118 (box): Carmelo Anthony lost his composure late in the game, frustrated by sterling defense from New York's Wilson Chandler, rookie Landry Fields had a career night and, yet, New York's losing streak reached six games. Fields had 21 points and 17 rebounds and now is averaging 9.5 rebounds per 40 minutes from the shooting guard position. Chandler scored 23 points, leading five New York players with 19 or more, and blocked five shots. Chandler has blocked 16 shots over his last four games. Anthony picked up a late technical, throwing his headband to the floor after getting stuffed at the rim by Chandler. He finished the game without the headband and, I have to say, he looked better without it. The Knicks outplayed the Nuggets in most respects, but hit just 9-of-31 from the three-point line and put Denver on the charity stripe 47 times.

EUROPE: "In their Eurocup Group B opener, the Eagles fell 94-91 to the visiting Hemofarm Stada of Serbia at the Arena on Tuesday. In his first official game, Allen Iverson scored 15 points for Besiktas. The 11-time NBA All-Star's debut attracted a media coverage rarely seen in the history of Turkish Basketball. The sold-out crowd cheered the Eagles and Iverson on from start to finish." (Besiktas JK official site)Among Iverson's new teammates is former Vanderbilt player A.J. Olgilvy.

LEAGUE: "The Orlando Magic at New York Knicks game that was postponed November 2, has been rescheduled for Monday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden, the National Basketball Association announced today." (press release)Mark your calendars.

LAKERS: "Los Angeles Lakers center Theo Ratliff underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to perform a partial meniscectomy on his left knee, it was announced today. The surgery, which took approximately 30 minutes, was performed by Lakers team orthopaedist Dr. Steve Lombardo of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Group. Ratliff is expected to be out a minimum of 4-6 weeks." (press release)The Lakers are short on big men and may be looking to add another one soon.

SUNS: "The Phoenix Suns assigned rookie forward Gani Lawal to the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League and released rookie guard Matt Janning, the team announced today." (press release)Janning was let go to make room for another big man, a move made necessary by Robin Lopez's injury. Janning didn't appear in a game.

SUNS: "The Phoenix Suns have signed center Earl Barron, the team announced today. Barron will be available on the club's four-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Miami." (press release)Barron played well for the Knicks at the end of last season and it was a bit of surprise that he didn't go to camp with somebody.

SPURS: "The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have waived guard Alonzo Gee. Gee appeared in five games this season, totaling 2 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks in 17 minutes. Gee was signed by the Spurs as a free agent on March 29, 2010 and was later assigned to the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League on April 8, 2010. The roster now stands at 12." (press release)The Spurs must be making way for a roster addition because they can't start side-stepping the 13-player roster minimum with 10-day contract players until Jan. 5. They have two weeks to add a player, per CBA guidelines.

WARRIORS: "Golden State Warriors forward David Lee underwent a follow-up procedure last night at Stanford Hospital to cleanse the infected area around the puncture wound on his left elbow, the team announced today. Lee was admitted to Stanford Hospital on Sunday night for treatment and monitoring. He will remain hospitalized and receive continuous treatment (including IVs and antibiotics) and continuous monitoring, by Dr. Bill Maloney, Dr. Tim McAdams and Dr. Frank Chen, until the infection is resolved. Lee originally suffered a deep laceration on his left elbow during the Warriors' game in New York on Wednesday, November 10. He underwent a similar procedure to cleanse the subsequent infection caused by the injury on Saturday, November 13." (press release)I guess there is no reason to panic, but this situation has me antsy. I'll be glad to see Lee back on the court.

2. Note to Mark Murphy: The NBA doesn't list leaders in taking charges, but HoopData.com does. Not sure where Murphy is getting his numbers--probably from the Celtics--but HoopData has Davis with four drawn charges so far. Murphy cites a total of 16. Can I guarantee that HoopData is right and Murphy isn't? No. However, this only underscores the fact that there is absolutely no reason for the NBA not to track this statistic.

GLOSSARY+/- (Plus-Minus) Raw data is from official box scores from NBA.com.GR (Game Rating) Reflects a player's Points Created total, or the portion of his team's offense for which he gets credit based on his box score line. This number is then adjusted for estimated defensive performance based on box score counterpart productivity. GR is pace-adjusted so you can compare players from game to game.PCP (Points Created Per Possession Used) An estimate of each player's points created per possession used, a measure of offensive efficiency. The stat accounts for a player's entire box score line, not just the scoring categories.PLY% (Play percentage) An estimate of the percentage of a team's possessions on which the player was on the court.USG An estimate of how many of those plays a player used by shooting, going to the line or committing a turnover, with a portion the team's offensive rebound total subtracted.TEAM STATS
PACE: Estimated possessions in the game.
ORTG: A team's points per 100 possessions.
eFG%: Team's shooting percentage with an extra half-point added for each made three-point field goal.
oRB%: Percentage of a team's misses that they retrieved off the offensive glass.
TO%: Percentage of at team's possessions resulting in a turnover.
FTA%: Percentage of a team's possessions resulting in a trip to the foul line.